Hi there, Modiphius has been continuing the quest to assemble one of the greatest ever teams to work on CONAN - Adventures In An Age Undreamed Of!

We can now announce that we've added legendary Conan artist Ken Kelly (Robert E. Howard covers for Berkley and Tor, Eerie, Creepy and Vampirella for Warren magazines) and Dark Horse regular Tomas Giorello (Conan The Cimmerian, King Conan, 2013 Robert E. Howard Foundation Award for Artistic Achievement) to the team who'll be creating the stunning covers for the Conan books.

They join other greats including Sanjulian, Carl Critchlow, Mark Schultz, Tim Truman, Phroilan Gardner, Alex Horley with more still to be announced!

The writing team is also growing with long time TSR stalwart Thomas M Reid (Dragon Mountain, Tales of the Comet, Forgotten Realms, Planescape, Ravenloft, Temple of Elemental Evil novel), Monical Valentinelli (Firefly RPG Lead developer & writer, Tomorrow's Precious Lambs), Kevin Ross (Masks of Nyarlathotep, Cthulhu by Gaslight, Colonial Lovecraft Country, Down Darker Trails), Lou Agresta (Snows Of An Early Winter, Slave Pits of Absalom, Freebooters Guide to the Razor Coast) and Scott Oden (Best-selling author of the historical fiction novels Men of Bronze, Memnon, and The Lion of Cairo)

You may also have missed our update that Vincent Darlage (Conan d20, Member of the Robert E. Howard United Press Association) has joined the games design team alongside Mark Finn (Blood and Thunder: The Life and Art of Robert E. Howard, The Barbaric Triumph, The Dark Man: The Journal of REH Studies).

Finally, two other major names join the team:

Patrice Louinet, well known for his expertise and seal of approval for the Conan board game by Monolith, will be working alongside Jeffrey Shanks to ensure the Conan roleplaying game is of the highest standard. Patrice was Editor of the definitive, three-volume Conan series (from Del Rey Books (US), Wandering Star (UK) and Bragelonne (France). Awarded Lifetime Achievement award from the Howard Foundation (USA, 2014) and the Special Award from the Imaginales (France, 2012)).

We've signed more major artists whose work has appeared in Marvel, DC, Dark Horse and many more including legendary Conan and Red Sonja artist Esteban Maroto (Conan Ace paperback illustrations, Savage Sword of Conan, Red Sonja, Eerie, Creepy and Vampirella) along with the spectacular Tom Grindberg, who is currently illustrating the Tarzan Sunday comic strip alongside Roy Thomas (Conan, Savage Sword of Conan, Conan Saga, Judge Dredd, ERB's Back to the Stone Age); and Jose Villarrubia, one of the top colorists in the business (various Dark Horse Conan titles including the award-winning King Conan, Alan Moore's Promethea, Dynamite's Red Sonja, and many more)

You can now help playtest the game!

You can download the Alpha Playtest Pack v1-0. This features an extensive introductory adventure by Lou Agresta and Scott Oden. You will find an introductory playtest ruleset, the adventure and a rough map to get you going. The purpose of this is simply for you to test the basic rules, get to grips with fighting, moving, skill tests and so on.

You can discuss this playtest pack, post comments and queries in the forum.

In 2-3 weeks we'll be sending a feedback survey for you to give us specific responses and an updated playtest pack.

I've been looking over the rules. I'm really not happy with them. The game uses the 2d20 system, which is a new House system for the publishing company, first used in their Mutant Chronicles game. The 2d20 system is rather gimmicky in my opinion. I love quick-n-easy, rules-lite rules (and I like crunch games, too), as long as the rules are written well.

These rules do not seem to be fun, imo, at all.

Though, the game does has its supporters.

I may have to give it a longer look, but my initial impression is a pass. I'll stick with Mongoose's d20 Conan game.

And, that's too bad. I was getting excited about a new Conan game. Too bad the designers chose to go with such a non-tradition route. The game system feels more "flavor of the month" than it does a good, well-thought-out system.

Say what you want to about d20, but the game had A LOT of professional thinking behind it. 3E D&D wasn't just slapped together. WotC took the edition seriously and turned out a game system that, while not perfect, set the gaming world on fire. Look at all the d20 games that came after it. And, when you play the Conan RPG, it just feels like it was designed well.

With this new game, I feel like some Gamemaster developed his own quirky system and is in love with it. But, it's a niche system, and I think its destined to not be adopted by a lot of people. If they wanted to go rules lite, there are a lot of other, more accepted, choices out there, like D6 or Savage Worlds. I would have loved to have seen either of those systems used--or even a new system, but not this. I don't think the 2d20 system will be my cup of tea at all.

The only light at the end of the tunnel is that the company publishing the new Conan game has some history publishing dual statted works. And, there is some talk of a D&D 5E version of the game (which I'd gladly use--I'm impressed with 5E). Hopefully, that version will take off. I can tell you that it is a version that I would buy.

For those that don't know (and, I know a lot of people are unfamiliar with the 2d20 system), this is how the new Conan RPG is going to work, as far as I understand it.

Please correct me if I am wrong about any of this.

Task Difficulty is measured in successes.

Average = 1
Challenging = 2
Daunting = 3
Dire = 4
Epic = 5

Characters have Attributes and Skills.

In order to roll a task, you roll one or more d20 dice. The default is two d20 dice, which is why the system is called 2d20.

Attribute + Skill = Target Number.

When you roll under (or equal) your Target Number, you gain a success.

If you also roll under (or equal) your Skill Number, you gain a bonus success.

Thus, if you had Attribute 9 and Skill 2, you would gain a success for every time you rolled 11 or less. And, you would gain an additional success if the die was also 2 or less.

Example.

You need to complete a task, and the Game Master has said that the task requires two successes.

You have Attribute 9 and Skill 2. Your Target Number is 11.

You roll two d20 dice, and get 2, 14. You rolled two successes. Both successes came on the first die roll. It was equal to or lower than both your target number and your skill level. The second die, you failed the task. Thus, on this roll, you rolled two successes and one failure. Failures cancel out successes. Thus, for the total roll, you failed the task because you only rolled one success (you needed two successes to succeed on the task).

Natural 20.

If you roll a natural 20, this is a Critical Failure. The GM will do one of two things with a Crit. He will immediately do something against the character who made the roll. Like this:

Extending the example above, you are trying to open a locked chest. It's a Challenging difficulty, so you need 2 successes. You have the appropriate attribute 11 and appropriate skill 2, meaning that your target number is 13/2 (13 for less for a success and 2 or less for a success).

You roll 2d20 and get: 20, 9.

That's a Critical Failure and a single success in the same roll.

You don't have enough successes to open the lock, so you failed there.

And, you rolled a Crit that your GM decides to implement immediately...

You feel a sharp, quick pain and look down to see that the lock was trapped, and there is a small red dot of a pin prick in your hand. You're sure that you've been poisoned.

Note that it is possible to both be successful at a task and roll a failure. Had the lock required only 1 success, then you would have opened the lock AND sprung the trap.

This is a part of the rules I'm fuzzy on: Do Crit Failures not also cancel out successes? Or, is it only normal failures? If so, how is a successful task rolled with a failure?

Momentum

Any time you roll more successes than you need, you get Points. This is called momentum. If you need 2 successes, and you roll 4 successes, then you have 2 momentum.

When you roll momentum, you can spend the points you get to do extra stuff.

1 point per extra d6 can be spent to get you extra damage from a successful attack.

1 point spent can get you a called shot with your success. You choose the hit location instead of rolling it.

2 points spent can get you a second hit location. You do normal damage to your original hit location, then you roll for a second hit location and do half damage to that area.

1 point spent can allow you to re-roll any number of dice that you roll for damage.

Stuff like that.

A player can throw any number of dice when making a task. (I'm fuzzy about this, too. I think it is correct.) More dice gives you more chances to roll successes, but it also gives you more chances to roll failures and Critical Failures.

Bad Points.

The GM starts the game with a certain number of Bad Points. I call them "Bad Points" because the writers of the Conan game haven't yet decided on a name for these points when last I read the beta test rules. "Bad Points" will work for our illustrative purposes here.

The Bad Points represent the obstacles, challenge, and evil forces working against the characters.

Whenever a Player rolls a Critical Failure (a natural 20), two Bad Points are added to the pool (unless the GM immediately imposed a complication on the player, as I outlined above in the example where the character was hit with a poison needle from the trapped trunk).

Anytime a player adds dice to a throw, add a Bad Point for each extra die used.

You don't have to do any bookkeeping with these Bad Points. Just use a token. The game will probably come with some type of token to use. Everybody has a lot of six sided dice. Use those. Any time a Bad Point is added to the pool, drop a d6 token die into a cup. The cup holds the total Bad Points available to the GM. I've read that some GMs who like the system use this as a way to mount dread on the players--a clear glass or bowl used to hold the Bad Point tokens. As they see the bowl fill up, they know the crap is going to hit the fan.

Personally, I don't like this meta-gaming at all. If I want to hit my players with foreboding, I'll do it. Sometimes, I want surprises--I don't want them expecting twists and turns in the game.

Spending Bad Points

NPCs normally act, in this game, after the PCs. Bad Points can be spent to allow NPCs to act before a PC or to even interrupt a PC's turn.

Bad Points can be spent to introduce unforeseen problems. The GM uses these points to make things worse for the players. This used to be called "bad GMing", when a GM takes advantage and makes a situation worse than it was supposed to originally be.

ANOTHER COMMENT

When I first started my Mongoose d20 Conan game (my first campaign), I used the optional d20 rule called Active Defense. This is where character's don't have static numbers for Armor Class. Instead, the player rolls his defense.

Basically, an AC value is akin to Taking Ten on a defense roll. If you have AC 13, then your Active Defense roll is d20 + 3.

I used this with the Conan game. And, it was fun, to a point. But, I noticed something. The game was less immersive. By having my players roll the defense actively, the players became more aware that they were playing a game. Rolling the die for defense took them out of the story and focused them on the dice rolling.

When I went back to using static AC numbers, with the players no longer fiddling with rolling their defense, what do you know! My players found themselves more immersed in the game. They weren't thinking about the dice roll and if they could beat my dice attack roll. They were picturing the fight in their heads. I would roll behind my screen so that the players could not see my attacks. And, this way, they had to listen to my description of the encounter--which is a lot more immersive than just watching one die beat another--to see if they were hit.

They lived through the experience. They envisioned it.

And, this certainly wasn't happening as often or a deeply when they were rolling their Active Defenses.

I see the 2d20 in the same light. Although it claims to be, it's not an immersive system. It focuses the characters on dice rolling. If focuses them on game mechanics. When, the players really should be focusing their thoughts on living through the action as their characters.

I said above, too, that I dislike the way Momentum and the Bad Points pool affect the game. Back in my AD&D days, I used a rule where a natural one meant a fumble, and a fumble was whatever the GM could make up at the time. Sometimes, I had some neat ideas for fumbles. Other times, I didn't. But, the natural "1" was still there on the die, and I had to make up something.

Also, I found this openness with the fumble led to arguments between me and the players. I'd come up with something that I thought appropriate and fitting to the situation. The player wouldn't like it and think it was unfair--too strict compared to what I had done for another person when his character rolled a fumble.

I ended up with coming up with a standard rule that if a natural "1" was thrown, it meant you opened up in combat, let your guard down, and your foe got a free attack on you (what would later be called an Attack of Opportunity in 3rd Edition).

I see these points in the new Conan game forcing issues like this. I don't see it as a good thing at all. I understand that Momentum can be used by player to have their characters pull of stunts and heroic actions that the player makes up. This is just like my Fumble rule (but in reverse) above. I don't think it will play will and lead to arguments.

As for the "Bad Points", again, I don't like them. I don't want to be forced to do anything with them as a GM. If I want an additional guard detachment to come down the hall, then I'll have them come. Or, I'll roll a Listen check or something like that to see if the guards hear the PCs fighting their comrades. I don't need a mass of Bad Points to have those other guards come down the hall, and I don't want to wait on getting the Bat Points to a level I need them in order to activate my other guards.

So, yeah, I'm against the 2d20 system for the new Conan game. If it stays, there's a 90% chance that I will not be buying the new game. I may not have the game system completely correct, but I think I'm close enough to fairly evaluate it. Again, please. If you see me say something that is incorrect about the game, then please correct me.

I've heard that the company publishing the new Conan game has a history or dual publishing. If they publish the new Conan game using the 5E rules, then they've got me. I've looked at the new D&D 5E rules, and I'm quite impressed. They are less crunch than either 3rd or 4th edition, and they have an early AD&D feel to them. Yet, they still include the more modern aspects of the d20 system (such as Feats). I think WotC hit the ball out of the park with this new edition of D&D.

I really dislike the approach that is being taken with this Conan game. I love Conan so much, and, too, was ready to embrace a new system. But, like the poster above just said, the 2d20 system is too fiddly and gimmicky for my tastes--it seems too fiddly for no good reason.

Reading through the playtest, it doesn't seem near as well thought out as the d20 system. I'm no d20 lover. But, I can appreciate a well crafted game system, and d20 is certainly that. I'd be very happy to see Conan played with a different, less crunchy system.

Vincent will write a book on the black Kingdoms. It will probably be comprised of much of the material he wrote for the cancelled Atlas (when Mongoose still had the licence).

I don't know what to expect from this new version of Conan but I think I don't care much about it (I'm only interested in the content) because I am currently devising a system combining the D20 from Conan RPG (i.e. by Mongoose) and the RuneQuest II system (also by Mongoose). I don't like the d20 very much (class system, lots of hit points and modifiers, etc.) while I like RQ a lot (the defender is not passive but can parry or dodge as a skill, not as a DC to hit him).

It wasn't easy but I have almost finished. In fact I did everything but I still have to check the magic system which is very different between the 2 games. I did this initially because I still wanted to play D20 adventures from publishers because there aren't many RQ adventures available there and most of these are designed for Glorantha which is a magic-heavy setting (everyone can basically use magic and cast spells).

An American-style kitchen is a kitchen in the living room.
A French-style toilet has toilet in the living room.
My neighbours combine both styles.

The King wrote:....while I like RQ a lot (the defender is not passive but can parry or dodge as a skill, not as a DC to hit him.

I'm sure you know that there is an option to run Mongoose Conan this way. The AC is just another way of "Taking 10" on the defense roll. Subtract 10 from AC, and that's your defense modifier. When somebody attacks, roll d20 + AC modifier.

I actually started playing the Mongoose Conan RPG this way, but I reverted back to static AC numbers because I found it more cinematic. It was more story driven, where rolling for defense focused the players too much on rolling dice--imo.

Now that I'm experienced with it, I've grown to actually really like Mongoose's version of the d20 rules. There was a learning curve, but after learning it, the game glides like a hot knife through butter when we play.

The King wrote:....while I like RQ a lot (the defender is not passive but can parry or dodge as a skill, not as a DC to hit him.

I'm sure you know that there is an option to run Mongoose Conan this way. The AC is just another way of "Taking 10" on the defense roll. Subtract 10 from AC, and that's your defense modifier. When somebody attacks, roll d20 + AC modifier.

I actually started playing the Mongoose Conan RPG this way, but I reverted back to static AC numbers because I found it more cinematic. It was more story driven, where rolling for defense focused the players too much on rolling dice--imo.

Now that I'm experienced with it, I've grown to actually really like Mongoose's version of the d20 rules. There was a learning curve, but after learning it, the game glides like a hot knife through butter when we play.

I think it really captures the Hyborian age vibe.

No I didn't think of that option. It is true that active parrying or dodging implies another bunch of dice rolls, but RQ5 (MRQ2) has some pleasant special rules which gives much "flavour" to it: There are 4 states for the attacker (critical success, success, failure and critical fumble) and the same for the defender. A matrix tells what players can do among several special effects (by-pass armor, riposte for the defender, disarm, critical damage, choose hit location, etc.). This makes combat longer but also more exciting.

The length of a fight is also compensated by the fact that there isn't so many opponents in RuneQuest (because HPs are much lower), so you can really "feel" what you do to your adversaries. Hit location can enable you to behead your opponents or cut off their arms with a sword, or smash his chest with a mace. This is also quite accurate of the descriptions in the short stories.

I "grew up" with D&D and ADD1 but I was never fully satisfied with the class system, even it is is easier now to advance in several classes. In the end, it is not so much the system which we use that is important as the pleasure we have to play in the Hyborian Age.

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My neighbours combine both styles.

No I didn't think of that option. It is true that active parrying or dodging implies another bunch of dice rolls, but RQ5 (MRQ2) has some pleasant special rules which gives much "flavour" to it: There are 4 states for the attacker (critical success, success, failure and critical fumble) and the same for the defender. A matrix tells what players can do among several special effects (by-pass armor, riposte for the defender, disarm, critical damage, choose hit location, etc.). This makes combat longer but also more exciting.[/quote]

I think I would quite like the RQ system, but I've never had the opportunity to dig into the rules and play a game.

As far as Conan, I'm also sure that you know that Mongoose Conan is an entirely different stripe of animal than D&D. If D&D is a horse, then Mongoose Conan is a Zebra. The combat maneuvers spice things up. Combat is a blast, and all those special effects you cite are included: by-pass armor by using a DEX based Finesse attack, Riposte is a combat maneuver, disarm is a maneuver, critical hits are built into the system with extra and Massive damage, there is an critical hit system provided in the Warriors Manual that allows for critical effects with a critical hit, there is also an optional hit location system in that book). All of this, as you say, makes combat more interesting.

I find that, in our games, there's a lot more non-lethal combat. Bar fights and lots of skirmishes go to bare fits and improvised weapons (broken chair leg) quicker than when steel is drawn. When steel is drawn, it is serious.

Also, since in the Hyborian Age, characters don't fight hordes of orcs and goblins, instead more often fighting one or a few humans, that the combat are also typically among less combatants. One on one fighting is common.

Here's an encounter I'm planning for my next game. I have a single player from the group with his character walking through a ruined city--it's been devastated by war. The character is walking down a path--what used to be the road in the town. In the wreckage is a scout hill tribesman. He's looking for weapons or food to take back to his tribe.

Who knows how things will go, because the character may spot the tribesman in the crumbled buildings, but if he doesn't, the tribesman will appear on the road in front of the lone traveler. I'll give the player a check on a Knowledge skill to see if he knows anything particular about this tribe. Typically, they won't try to kill. They'll try to best a single foe in unarmed combat.

And, that's what I'll do with the NPC tribesman. If the player doesn't draw steel and insult the tribesman, the fight will remain non-lethal. It all depends on initiative and such, but my plan for the tribesman is to run into character and shove him to the ground (Trip maneuver). Getting the PC on the ground, he'll begin to beat him senseless, gripping his hair with one hand and repeatedly punching him in the face with the other. If the tribesman wins the contest, he strip the unconscious PC of his best weapons and take any food, water, and coin the man may have on him.

Oh, and one last thing. The tribesmen are a proud, disciplined people. If they best a foe with just their bare hands, then they take the left ear of their foe. (If they best a foe in lethal combat, then they take both ears).

Our PC, if he loses this encounter, will wake up with his face in bloody muck, much of his equipment missing, and his left ear--a reminder that he'll never forget his encounter with the tribesman.

Now, this is my plan. I can't predict what the player will do or how the dice will roll. So, the outcome is as open as the sky.

My point here is that: These combat encounters in this game are not only a lot different from standard D&D but they are also a lot more interesting and fun! We use the Intimidate skill a lot in combat, too.

I "grew up" with D&D and ADD1 but I was never fully satisfied with the class system, even it is is easier now to advance in several classes.

Yes, there are classes in the Mongoose Conan RPG, but they are really "light". If you want your PC to be a thief, it doesn't matter his class. You just steal something. The thief class will give you access to skills that will make you a better thief, but you can get some of those skills in different classes. Look at Conan. He became a master thief, but in the game, he was never higher than a 1st level Thief. A gang of thieves might have a couple of Soldiers, a real Thief class, and a Nomad. All of them are thieves, but only one is a Thief class.

There is no priest class. If you want to be a priest, then start preaching!

The classes in Conan are meant to help a player create the types of characters typical of the Hyborian Age. Look at Thulsa Doom from the movies. Obviously, he's a swordsman. And, he uses sorcery. So, he's probably a Soldier/Scholar multi-class. If you need a Bandit leader, how about mixing Thief/Noble. And, there's always more than one way to accomplish something. Your bandit leader might be a higher level Borderer/Thief.

Think of the classes in the Mongoose Conan game as very "loose". They're really a collection of skills for a type of character, and you can mix and match to create all sorts of other characters. The three "F" books for the Conan RPG all go into detail about how to mix the classes to come up with new and interesting types of characters.

This is a lot different from standard D&D where the classes are "hard". One has to be classed as a Thief in order to have access to the thief abilities. Only Fighter classes can fight well (where, in Conan, several classes fight well, including Soldier, Barbarian, Nomad, and Borderer).

I think the Conan RPG is a brilliant game that fits the Hyborian Age well. I also think that some see the d20 rules and assume the game is like D&D. It really isn't, in a lot of ways.

I know the Conan system. I played Slaine for some times (even on this forum as an online campaign). Slaine is a game with Celtic heritage. He's a hero from British comics, no unlike Conan but also somewhat different.
The system is D20 (Player's manual is required for about 40-50 pages, essentially for the skills and some feats) but the rest was pure OGL with specific classes (even the druidic version was very different, much more like Merlin) and the magic system (with Power Points) gave the base to Conan's magic system.

Supplement Four wrote:Yes, there are classes in the Mongoose Conan RPG, but they are really "light". If you want your PC to be a thief, it doesn't matter his class. You just steal something. The thief class will give you access to skills that will make you a better thief, but you can get some of those skills in different classes. Look at Conan. He became a master thief, but in the game, he was never higher than a 1st level Thief. A gang of thieves might have a couple of Soldiers, a real Thief class, and a Nomad. All of them are thieves, but only one is a Thief class.

There is no priest class. If you want to be a priest, then start preaching!

The classes in Conan are meant to help a player create the types of characters typical of the Hyborian Age. Look at Thulsa Doom from the movies. Obviously, he's a swordsman. And, he uses sorcery. So, he's probably a Soldier/Scholar multi-class. If you need a Bandit leader, how about mixing Thief/Noble. And, there's always more than one way to accomplish something. Your bandit leader might be a higher level Borderer/Thief.

Think of the classes in the Mongoose Conan game as very "loose". They're really a collection of skills for a type of character, and you can mix and match to create all sorts of other characters. The three "F" books for the Conan RPG all go into detail about how to mix the classes to come up with new and interesting types of characters.

This is a lot different from standard D&D where the classes are "hard". One has to be classed as a Thief in order to have access to the thief abilities. Only Fighter classes can fight well (where, in Conan, several classes fight well, including Soldier, Barbarian, Nomad, and Borderer).

I think the Conan RPG is a brilliant game that fits the Hyborian Age well. I also think that some see the d20 rules and assume the game is like D&D. It really isn't, in a lot of ways.

I thought more of a thief as a guy to move stealthy and find and disarm traps, not just grab what he wants to.

I understand you like this system and I won't critic you for that. You probably were among those who were advocating against a system change when there was a talk about Conan using RQ rules some years ago. But again this is your right.
I admit Conan RPG is sometimes very detailed and complete as to what you can do and the feeling with the Hyborian Age and though I think some d20 adventures are more suited to a Conan game than many RQ adventures I still prefer the smoother RuneQuest system (or basic roleplaying game) which Mongoose turned into Legend RPG when they lost the rights to RuneQuest.
This is also why I decided to devise a system which would convert the Conan (d20) or DD3.5 system into RQ and I think I managed it. I could even adapt the D20 feats using the Legendary Abilities in RQ and converted somewhat the classes into carrer (soldier, warriors, thieves, etc.) and cultural background (primitive, barbarian, nomad, civilized). Some rules were easier to convert because armours in RQ also lower damages and power points are like Magic points.

So we both like our own specific system. The main question is now: will we both move toward the 2d20 system?

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The King wrote:The main question is now: will we both move toward the 2d20 system?

Absolutely not! I am open to new systems for Conan. I think WEG's old D6 System would fit it fantastically. But, have you looked at the 2d20 System? It's horrible! It's really awful, and it does not fit the Hyborian Ate at all.

Supplement Four wrote:I think WEG's old D6 System would fit it fantastically.

I join you on that! Do you know about the Hercules & Xena games WEG released before they closed? I was smooth, simple, enjoyable and epic at the same time. Adapting other systems to it, especially magic rules wouldn't be easy, though.

I don't know the 2d20. I just read through the rules quickly and read their example of combat in the KS page. But that's not the most important in my eyes. My main question is about the content of the sourcebook and if they can be used universally and not just with their own system.

BTW I learnt that they will release a Kull book in 2017. That's a good idea. I think Mongoose should habe done this when they had the Conan licence.

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A French-style toilet has toilet in the living room.
My neighbours combine both styles.

An excellent news: as the Conan KS from Modiphius has reached 300.000£, they will release a conversion guide for D20 and their own system. This means that all Mongoose Conan books will still be useful with their game. Or the other way around: one can use their books as background and adventure for a D20 game.

A funny thing: some of you probably remember that Mongoose hasd scheduled to release in 2006 a campaign entitled The Shadow of the Sorcerer (by Jason Durall) which was cancelled in the end. I think the cover art was already done and is now on The Conan Compendium. it seems Modiphius will publish this campaign in 2017 but I don't know if it will be as massive as what Mongoose had in mind (400 pages IIRC), but thus you will be able to play it with the D20 system as well.

An American-style kitchen is a kitchen in the living room.
A French-style toilet has toilet in the living room.
My neighbours combine both styles.

The King wrote:An excellent news: as the Conan KS from Modiphius has reached 300.000£, they will release a conversion guide for D20 and their own system.

The only problem is the 2d20 system sucks, hard. It is very un-Conan.

The system uses a boardgame like mechanic called a Doom Pool that effects the game like "The Force" in Star Wars. But, there is no force like that in the Hyborian Age. Conan's world is a place where one man, with a strong arm and a yard of steel will carve out his own destiny.

A little background: The 2d20 game system was originally designed for the Mutant Chronicles game (by the same person that designed FFG's Star Wars game). The Mutant Chronicles universe has a "Force like" aspect to it, called Dark Symmetry. In that game, what is called the Doom Pool in Conan is called the Dark Symmetry Pool. Thus, the points in that pool represent the effects that Dark Symmetry has on the game world.

Modiphius, the publisher of the new Conan RPG, has decided to make the 2d20 System their house system, and they are shoe-horning the system into every game they publish, whether the game system is appropriate or not.

With Conan and the Hyborian Age, the game system is definitely not a good fit.

People are starting to realize this, as with this play report using the new Quick Start rules. This came out about two weeks ago: Click Here. It's a fair report, highlighting both good and bad points about the system. In the end, the cons outweigh the pros for this Conan Ref, and I feel the same.

It's too bad such a promising game gets shafted with a bad pick for mechanics.

The King wrote:An excellent news: as the Conan KS from Modiphius has reached 300.000£, they will release a conversion guide for D20 and their own system.

The only problem is the 2d20 system sucks, hard. It is very un-Conan.

The system uses a boardgame like mechanic called a Doom Pool that effects the game like "The Force" in Star Wars. But, there is no force like that in the Hyborian Age. Conan's world is a place where one man, with a strong arm and a yard of steel will carve out his own destiny.

A little background: The 2d20 game system was originally designed for the Mutant Chronicles game (by the same person that designed FFG's Star Wars game). The Mutant Chronicles universe has a "Force like" aspect to it, called Dark Symmetry. In that game, what is called the Doom Pool in Conan is called the Dark Symmetry Pool. Thus, the points in that pool represent the effects that Dark Symmetry has on the game world.

Modiphius, the publisher of the new Conan RPG, has decided to make the 2d20 System their house system, and they are shoe-horning the system into every game they publish, whether the game system is appropriate or not.

With Conan and the Hyborian Age, the game system is definitely not a good fit.

People are starting to realize this, as with this play report using the new Quick Start rules. This came out about two weeks ago: Click Here. It's a fair report, highlighting both good and bad points about the system. In the end, the cons outweigh the pros for this Conan Ref, and I feel the same.

It's too bad such a promising game gets shafted with a bad pick for mechanics.

Thank you for the info, Supplement Four. I didn't know that Star Wars and the 2d20 originated from the same person.

Anyway, what I meant is that if you can convert D20 into 2D20, the reverse is probably possible as well.

Moreover I supposed that you are experienced enough to know that numbers are just numbers and can be modified. What is important is the written content of the books and what they can bring as an information and inspiration source. I only browse through quickly the 2d20 system and will see later what I do with it, though I will read the review you linked at. But from what I read about the system, the doom points in combat are reminiscent of the manoeuvres in Mongoose RuneQuest 2: there is 4 levels in a fight for everyone: critical success, success, failure and fumble. If you critical and the opponent fail, you get 2 manoeuvres (e.g. impale, disarm, change range, etc.). Not the same effect but a similar mechanic.

Furthermore, Mongoose had initially planned to publish a regional book about every nation but they stopped well before the half of them, and now many regional books are scheduled by Modiphius and some campaigns as well.

An American-style kitchen is a kitchen in the living room.
A French-style toilet has toilet in the living room.
My neighbours combine both styles.

The King wrote:Vincent told me he had completed his Black Kingdoms book.

For the new 2d20 game?

Yes

I received some samples of the new book and it seems very pleasant, especially the skill improvement. I don't know if I'll use this new system or mine. I am almost complete in my adaptation of Conan OGL into RuneQuest/Legend and I am very satisfied with it. The most difficult part, among others things, was the magic system and I could convert it smoothly and smartly, giving it all the flavour of the RuneQuest rules with Hyborian sorcery.

An American-style kitchen is a kitchen in the living room.
A French-style toilet has toilet in the living room.
My neighbours combine both styles.